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2017 Foal

As you are all well aware, I was most unsuccessful in the acquisition of a baby horse via Paige despite my efforts with two different stallions. My luck-it is no good. You also may remember that I swore off breeding and debated the following:

Buying a weanling/yearling etc. Most things I came across that I liked that fit the criteria (reining bred, preferably Hollywood Dun It, good conformation, pretty, with color/a preferred color, within a certain distance from home, etc.) were 2-3 years old. Which defeats the purpose for me to a degree. If I wanted to buy a horse to put in training NOW, that would be fine, but Copper needs to go into training now, not this imaginary baby. So I wanted something yearling or younger. Something I could have fun and do the ground work with. One of the 3 year olds I liked is barely halter broke…so similar situation, just should be under saddle by now in the reining world…

Adopt a foal from Last Chance Corral. This was especially enticing to me as they aren’t super far away and the babies are mostly less than $200. It doesn’t help that they post cute pictures on facebook in my weak moments. But, once I put on the hat of the responsible horse owner, I realized that $200 baby equals much more. Most of the time you have to adopt two so that they have a buddy, so make that $400 in adoption fees, plus gas/hauling to get them home, plus $150-$200 a week in powdered milk for them to drink since they’re not with their mothers. Most of them have to have the milk for 8 weeks (could be off on the timeline, it has been a little while since I dismissed this idea), so that would add up to over a grand in powdered milk in short order. Plus there is additional risk that they would get sick/run down easily since they’re not with their mothers, so there is the added possibility of vet bills. Trust me when I say that I’d love to rescue-I just struggle with the idea of investing this much money in unpapered babies of unknown parentage since they may not be suited to what I intend to do in the future (which will vary, I’m sure, but it will likely require a western type horse with good movement and a sane mind).

I didn’t really intend to come back to breeding-stud fees are high for my taste in horses, and I’m 110% aware of the costs POST stud fee, like shipping, collection, vet bills, oh the vet bills. Last year’s stud fee was paid in late 2012-so that burn was long gone and yet the bills were still significant (especially considering I have no baby to show for it). So since I lack the funds for stud fee+all the other fees, I’d counted this idea out. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been facebook stalking a stud in the state that meets my criteria… So when his owner’s posted a contest: guess his first foal’s color, get a free breeding (plus fees + vet bills of course), I tossed out my guess-bay tobiano. The mare is homozygous tobiano and the stud is tobiano as well, so that aspect seemed safe. The genetics results I found on the calculator indicated that it was mostly likely to be buckskin or bay. The mare is bay, the stud’s mother is bay, so I went with bay. Guess what? He was a bay tobiano. Woo! So I was contacted by the stud owner who is amazing and is going to meet me halfway to exchange the semen so I don’t have to pay FedEx and wait a day for it to show up.

Thank you for being bay.

So-about the studly-Hollywood Reminic. For some reason I’m struggling to embed a photo of him, so you’ll have to follow hyperlinks if you’re curious. He’s a palomino tobiano reining horse (video here). He’s currently being show in open and in amateur/non-pro with his owner. I prefer to breed to horses who (despite being breeding stallions) are able to be shown/ridden by someone who doesn’t spend 8 hours a day in the saddle being a horse trainer. I feel like often if the stallion is able to work and be successful in that situation, a baby from this cross should be a nice non-pro horse for me. His first foal crop is hitting the ground this year, and hopefully a baby with Paige will be among his second foal crop in 2017.

I’m hoping to inseminate Paige in May for an April baby. Rest assured that if she’s pregnant we will have a party/foal shower of sorts in Paige’s honor. If Lauren can have a birthday party for Simon, Paige can have a foal shower. 🙂 Paige requests edible gifts only.

Hopefully this time around there is a baby!!
Last Chance Corral always makes me take pause too, especially when they get spotted draft babies. *dreamy sigh* but a baby that young without a mom to take care of it is a lot of work, and I have met more than one orphaned foal that had mental issues as they grew up that made them harder to train.

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Hi, I’m Sarah and I own a farm in rural SWVA where I board a couple horses and keep my small (but growing) herd. I use this space to chronicle my life with my four legged friends, both equine and canine and am glad to have you tune in! :)

Recent Posts

Paige is my most reliable mount. She is a 18 year old American Quarter horse. She is the mother of my APHA colt by Hollywood Reminic and the reason I still enjoy horses.

Copper is the only gelding in my personal herd. He is a 11 year old Appaloosa who is remarkably versatile. We’ve fought Lyme disease and some other weird lameness issues the last couples years, but hope to try our hand at dressage one day.

Joey is a 2017 dunskin colt by Hollywood Reminic and out of my AQHA mare, Paige. I am very lucky to have this little guy to bring along and I look forward to the journey.

Robin is a 16 year old breeding stock Paint mare that has been my big pet since she was a weanling and I was 12. If you’re asking who really owns the farm? It’s this mare. ;)

Emma, Chloe, Russell, and Poppy are the barn clowns. These mini donkeys have more personality than ears, if you can believe that. Poppy is Chloe and Russell’s 2017 baby.

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